Anybody else concerned that Leon has lost a step? Other than one nice return earlier in the year, the guy hasn't done anything. Last year I expected him to bring it to the house on every return Or at least bring some excitement with some moves. Lately it seems like he has been making poor decisions on bringing it out of the endzone or by running backwards on punt returns. He seems to be tentative and slower this year.

I think teams are paying attention and reminding their guys to hold the line on their zone of responsibility which is limiting him somewhat. But the time will come this season for him to at least tie the NFL record for kick/punt returns.

Holding their area of responsibility is something our kick/punt defenders need to remember.

BTW didn't Washington hava a sure return TD, slowed up at the end and had the ball knocked out of his hands? Be tied for the record now.

He rarely gets a chance to get a return. And if anything, the finger should point at the return team as a whole and the special teams coach -- it's not Leon on an island.

There are not many kick-off return TDs in the NFL these days, it's not unique to us. It was a dumb rule change moving the kick-offs up -- that took away a great part of the game. He is still dangerous and he's given us shortened fields many times this season. He's near the top of the league in return yardage.

Leon is still one of the best returners in the game (great combination of vision, patience, and ability to make defenders miss) but he has definitely lost a step in his top-end speed. There weren't too many people that could catch him in the open field earlier in his career, but he has been caught from behind on numerous occasions since he's been here. I still wouldn't trade him for many others out there.

Saved the team's bacon in the Patriots game. That final punt return was huge. He is having a tough time with KO returns and is pressing IMO, but you have to let him try. He may not be back next year, depends on what the team wants to do with the contract? Better him than Tate in my book.

I think I can honestly say that I have never seen a returner field a punt in the endzone. That is plain dumb. There are about 20 things that can go wrong in that scenario and very few good things that can happen. That showed very poor field awareness and even though he got it out to the 20 he was lucky to do so. I think he has the vision/know how to make up for losing a step or two but he takes too many chances and has scared the crap out of me a couple of times with muffed punts.

MOCHawk wrote:I think I can honestly say that I have never seen a returner field a punt in the endzone. That is plain dumb. There are about 20 things that can go wrong in that scenario and very few good things that can happen. That showed very poor field awareness and even though he got it out to the 20 he was lucky to do so. I think he has the vision/know how to make up for losing a step or two but he takes too many chances and has scared the crap out of me a couple of times with muffed punts.

Until we see what he see's its hard to judge by anything other then the results achieved, if Leon see's an opening he has to go for it, 99% of the time it falls apart but if you don't try you don't break the big ones. The view could change 5 yards into a return, a huge block or missing a block Leon assumes is going to happen changes everything, maybe he has lost a step but he is still better then 80% of the return guys in the league.

So far this year only 7 people have returned it to the house. Out of 32 teams. He's 13th in yardage. His attempts are down to 15 so his average is 6th overall 29.1 yards per attempt. pretty good. His longest of the year was 83 yards not to mention the td that he had taken away from him for a BS blocking in the back call. The guy is still good.

Last edited by SeahawkGeoff on Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.